Guadalupe Mountains NP

Dates: 3-20-21 through 3-23-21

 

With our stopover completed, we headed west through Oklahoma and Texas.  If you have never crossed the gas and oil fields of the Texas Panhandle, it's an experience.  We typically cross it as fast as possible, and hope the wind is blowing the right way.  The fumes given off by the oil wells can be especially noxious some days.

 

 

Guadalupe Mountains are the uplifted and eroded remains of a 250-million-year-old reef.  The various ridge lines are made of different rock types, with the southern ones being limestone, and farther northwest being sedimentary in nature. 

 

 

We got lucky with our timing, as a few days prior the entire area around Guadalupe NP had been hit with sustained 60-mph winds.  These are often for 12+ hours a day, turning the sky brown, and sandblasting anything exposed.  With good weather we decided to hike McKittrick Canyon first.

 

 

Prior to the park being established in the late 60s, this was a hunting lodge and retreat deep in the back country.  Stone walls and roofs made for a cool escape in the sun.  A nearby spring is one of few permanent water sources in the area.

 

 

Some interesting caves were about halfway down.

 

The adaptations of the plants in the desert can be quite interesting.

 

Here is a Texas Madrone.  A unique tree which has bright red bark, usually covered with a waxy layer. 

 

Just a bit spiky!

 

 

 

The following day we hiked up to Devil’s Hall, a slot canyon in the mountains.

 

 

Here is another madrone which has sustained some damage.  Note how the  wood twists as it grows.   This helps the tree be more resistant to injury, and continues to thrive despite it.

 

It took a bit of scrambling over boulders and up dry falls, but we got there.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

On the 22nd we decided to try and do Guadalupe Peak, the highest one in the park. The weather was starting to turn, and we didn’t want to hang around for another week.  This was a good workout, but with the elevation gain we found ourselves a bit under-dressed, with wind chills well below freezing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These desert mountain ranges are always fascinating from a biology standpoint.  As we rose in elevation the yearly precipitation would double.   On sheltered north-facing slopes or drainage areas, conifer forests appeared.

 

 

 

We persevered, and were eventually rewarded with a sweeping vista.  The winds were starting to pick up at this point.  In the distance you can see the salt dunes, with the wind whipping up a dust storm, indicating it was time to move on.